1. In parts, the road trip worked something like an indictment of GM Mike Gillis.

The Mt Rushmore of Gillis’s most controversial trades were neatly highlighted when the Canucks scratched David Booth and visited Cody Hodgson in Buffalo, Michael Grabner on Long Island, and Cory Schneider in Jersey.

Lost in a blizzard of hoopla generated by revisiting those deals during the past couple of weeks is that Gillis has had a very good start to this season.

The players are rallying around his new coach, who has managed to give his stale core a new car smell.

He planned this year to keep some cap space for the start of the season to pluck from the waiver wire, and uncorked a good find in defenceman Ryan Stanton.

Sure, Stanton and Kevin Bieksa had a tough night in St. Louis, getting creamed at even strength. He was on the ice for two shots for and seven against. But overall, Stanton has been a rock as a No. 6 and that hasn’t been easy to find.

We’ll get to Mike Santorelli later but he’s developed into a significant contributor in the top six, and he’s cheap, cheap, cheap.

Brad Richardson has been an effective penalty killer and scored some goals, which is allowing people to overlook his cold garbage Corsi.

Gillis also had the money to take Jeremy Welsh off Carolina’s hands. He has been effective and, oh by the way, the Hurricanes are picking up 40% of his salary.

Not bad.

Now for Gillis to turn this into a great year of managing, he still needs to add an impactful forward, notably at centre.

2. Gillis signed Santorelli to a two-way deal, suggesting he didn’t have any idea he’d go out and put up nine points in his first 13 games.

Sometimes you need luck and Gillis got some with the way Santorelli is playing the first month of the season.

He’s a waterbug with a puck who won the game against the Devils with his shootout move, and followed it up with a leading pass into the slot to Kesler in St. Louis which was a beauty.

I don’t know if Santorelli is really this good or how long he can sustain it.

But I do know he can do all the stuff you wanted from Mason Raymond. The stuff on the boards and around the net. He has, in fact, been a significant improvement on the Falling-down One, no matter how many goals Raymond has scored with the Leafs.

Santorelli is quite the gadget for John Tortorella and his play, holding serve on the second line against opponents just about nightly, is the reason the coach has been able to load up the top line, playing Ryan Kesler with the Sedins.

“It’s probably something the prior coaching staff didn’t have,” Tortorella said of Santorelli. “Everytime we talk about him, from Day 1 and his testing to right now, he’s probably been our most consistent guy.

“He’s being put into a lot of different situations.”

High praise for a guy who came out of nowhere. OK, Winnipeg and Florida. But close enough.

3. Eddie Lack is on pace to play 19 games this year, which is right where the Canucks want him to be.

Winning games like Friday’s against the Blues goes a long way.

Lack didn’t face an incredible test of scoring chances, but that shouldn’t take away from his game. The two goals he gave up were on the power play and he would have had the second if his stick didn’t get caught as he swept through the crease to try and make the save.

I liked the sequence in the second when he made a toe stop on a Brenden Morrow slapper and then stoned Jordan Leopold on the crease’s porch when Leopold got a handle on the rebound.

I also liked his aggression in the third when he went Dan Cloutier for a moment, tossing blocker punches.

I’ve always known Lack to be a “happy happy” player, who is friendly, grounded, funny and humble. I don’t know many guys who would be hanging with the Legion of Blog playing video games and eating Greek food.

But that was nothing for Lack. I hadn’t really seen this aggressive side, or this arrogant side Tortorella was going on about after the game because every time I see him he has a smile from here to Buenos Aires.

Suppose he must have a darker side in the locker room and on the ice where he talks about biting the heads of bats, and opponents.

“The thing is, not only has he played well, he has a nice arrogance about him,” Tortorella said. “I think teams play off their goalie, especially their backup … He is steady and I think our team feeds off that.”

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